July 31, 2026 - Intimacy

My thought for today is Intimacy. The moment when vulnerability becomes a bridge instead of a risk. Intimacy strengthens trust once we see that our vulnerability is a form of truth-telling, and that truth, when met with gentleness, becomes the foundation of real connection. Intimacy is a mutual state of closeness created when two people share their inner world — thoughts, feelings, fears, hopes, truths — and each person responds with care, honesty, and respect. It’s the result of vulnerability offered and safety returned, repeated over time. Intimacy isn’t just closeness; it’s earned closeness. As the saying goes. into me see.

July 30, 2026 - God could and would

My thought for today is God could and would. I got that slogan just a few days ago. They say you get the lesson until you learn it. When I start my morning ritual, I read from a few daily readers. Recently, I added a reading of the Bible, specifically one of the Psalms, this morning it was psalm six. A rough translation of that psalm is that God is waiting for us to search him out and that although we be sinners, he will still listen to our prayers. "The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer." God could and would, if He were sought. Most good ideas are simple.

July 29, 2026 - Live and let live

My thought for today is Live and Let Live. A slogan about tolerance. I used to think tolerance was how much I could drink without passing out. But the dictionary defines tolerance as the readiness to allow others to think, believe, and act as they see fit. This slogan is in two parts. I "live" my life by basic spiritual principles of humility, gratitude, love, forgiveness and tolerance. And I let others "live" their lives by whatever principles or lack of that they choose to live their lives by. I don't have to like it and as long as it is not harmful to myself or to others, then it's acceptable to me. It's really quite simple.

July 28, 2026 - Amends

My thought for today is Amends. I made my amends during the 8th and 9th step of my recovery process. The idea is to practice my program well enough so that I don't create situations where I have to make amends in the future. Alas, I, too, am less than perfect and sometimes I make mistakes. The 10th step encourages me to be on the lookout for when my defects of character crop up and when I am wrong - not if I am wrong - then I can make amends quickly. Apologizing for harm done to others is a good start, but ideally I need to get the situation back to where it was before I messed it up and as long as I do not harm others by doing so, then I am on the right track.

July 27, 2026 - Gratitude

My thought for today is Gratitude. I don't have to think much about the things I am grateful for. One of those things is people, specifically the people I sponsor. When I talk with them, especially the newer people, I am reminded of how I was, when I was new and I am grateful that I no longer think like that. When I hear of people being sick and perhaps dying, I am grateful that it is not me or anyone close to me. Oh I have health problems, but they are manageable. When I see in the news all the stories about unhoused persons, I can be grateful that I have a home. Yeah, it doesn't take me long to see what I am grateful for.

July 26, 2026 - Self-Restraint

My thought for today is Self-Restraint. I need to be careful when a situation throws me off balance. As they say, nothing pays off like restraint of tongue or of pen. One of my defects is that my mouth works faster than my brain does, so I need to stop and think a minute before I respond to a text message or a voicemail. That way I will not ruin the relationship by saying something that I really do not mean. I guess my thought for today could just as easily have been Think! Think! Think!

July 25, 2026 - God could and would

My thought for today is that God could and would. It's one of the three pertinent ideas. The first is that we are alcoholic and could not manage our life. the second is that no human power could relieve us of our alcoholism and the third is that God could and would, if He were sought. As I always say, we don't have to find God we just have to look for Him. One place I have found Him to be is in meetings. So, look for Him there.

July 24, 2026 - Trust

My thought for today is Trust. Whenever I think of trust, I think of God. Trust, after all, is defined as assured reliance upon the character, strength, ability or truth of someone of something. I am reminded of the slogan Trust God Clean House Help Others. Helping Others is what I'm all about now. But, I am unable to help others until I first help Bernie and the best way for me to help Bernie is to clean house, to get to the core of what is ailing me and take steps to correct that. I can do that in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth steps of my recovery program, but I should not embark on that task until I have placed my trust and my reliance upon God. Sometimes I get confused about what God is doing or why He does things, like take people close to me. I need to trust God and trust that He has a plan and that it is beyond my comprehension. I need to continue to have faith that all will be well if I keep close to him and perform his work as best as I can.

July 23, 2026 - Not My Circus Not My Monkeys

My thought for today is Not my circus, not my monkeys. A reminder that not everything that happens in the world is my business, nor is it my responsibility to fix. The moment I stop auditioning for roles in someone else's drama, then I can start focusing on what is my responsibility. 

July 22, 2026 - Serenity Prayer

My thought for today is the Serenity prayer. God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. A lot of wisdom and strength in those few lines. I cannot change other people and there are some situations that I have no control over either, so I ask God for the serenity to accept those situations or people. Serenity would be the calmness to accept rather than try to control. I also ask for the strength to make any changes that I am able to. These would likely be changes in my own thought and actions. And finally, I ask for wisdom to tell the difference between what I can change and what I cannot change.

July 21, 2026 - Working With Others

My thought for today is Working With Others. The best way for me to do that is through sponsorship. The twelfth step encourages me to carry this message to others and that's what I try to do. I'm not always successful. But every now and then, someone takes the direction I offer and applies it to their life on a daily basis and they start to change. The message is pretty basic. If I can do it, you can do it. One gentleman at a meeting back in my early days said he had a spiritual awakening the day I took my suglasses off and sat up front. What he didn't realize is that someone was carrying that message to me, I was listening and eventually I started to change. Now, I do the same thing. As the Big Book reminds me, concerning working the steps, having had the experience myself, I can offer the new person much practical advice. What they do with that advice is between them and their Higher Power.

July 20, 2026 - Insanity

My thought for today is Insanity. I have heard it described a few different ways. The most common definition is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I heard a roundup speaker from Kentucky say that his definition of insanity was being in a twelve step program and not working the twelve steps. Another speaker said that insanity was knowing what to do and not doing it, or knowing what not to do and doing it anyway. In all cases we do the wrong thing instead of the right thing. Whenever I did things Bernie's way all I ever got were Bernie's results. But, when I tried to do things God's way, things usually got better. As I always say, the days that I pray almost always turn out better than the days I don't.

July 19, 2026 - Anonymity

My thought today is Anonymity. I never keep my involvement in AA a secret if I think it might help someone I know. By the same token, I do not shout it from the rooftops. Lately, I've become aware of anonymity on the internet. If I make a post on social media and state in that post that I am in AA, then all I have really done is reveal my own involvement. If you or anyone else in AA, clicks like on that post or comments that they are also in AA then I have encouraged others to break their anonymity and the best way to not do that is not to make the post in the first place. I used to say that I was never worried who saw me staggering or crawling home from the bar so why should I worry about who knows I'm in AA. But, it is my responsibility to protect AA and if it ever breaks apart, it will be from within, so I'll do my part to keep that from happening. All this assumes that I am in AA. 

July 18, 2026 - Humility

My thought for today is Humility. I am always reminded of the saying that humility is not thinking less of myself; it is thinking of myself less. Humility is the focal point of Step Seven: "Humbly asled Him to remove our shortcomings." the step used to read "Humbly, on our knees. asked Him....." But we always tell new people it's God as you understand God and some people wouldn't appreciate being told to pray on their knees, so the changed the wording. The important fact is that we are praying, asking God to remove our emotional deformities, our shortcomings as they say. The step doesn't say humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings and they were removed. But, just as the reading earlier on suggests, we don't have to find God, we just have to look for Him. So, we don't strive to become perfect, we just strive for progress toward becoming better people.

July 17, 2026 - Step Ten

My thought for today is Step Ten. "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it." When I did step 4, "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves." I learned what my defects of character were. In the tenth step, I keep an eye out for those defects. Nancy and I do a daily inventory each night before we go to sleep. we review our day to see where we did well and to see where we did not do well. The thing I try to keep in mind is that it says "when" we were wrong, not "if", because the guys who wrote these steps almost a hundred years ago, they knew we would be wrong and when we are we ask God's forgiveness and we ask what corrective measures we can take to make tomorrow a better day.

July 16, 2026 - One Day At A Time

My thought for today is One Day At A Time. I remember, back in 1997, when I tried to stop drinking, I had tried to quit for the rest of my life. But, then I asked myself what will I do on New Year's Eve? What will I do on my birthday? What will I do on your birthday? A longtimer said to me one day why don't you just try not to drink today? So, I gave that a shot. A day turned into a week, four weeks became a month, 12 months became a year, ten years became a decade, then half a century, and it just keeps adding up. Ultimately, all we really have is today. We never know what the day will bring. We never know when the next storm will come so we should always be ready. I start each day in the same way, with prayer, meditation, and reflection, because the days that I pray almost always turn out better than the days I don't.

July 15, 2026 - Intimacy

My thought for today is Intimacy. Intimacy can best be understood as a state of secure vulnerability. A willingness to be open and to feel that our openness will be treated with care. Intimacy requires trust and it strengthens that trust once we see that our vulnerability is met with care instead of judgement. It becomes not a liability, but rather a bridge. Intimacy comes in four basic types. Spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical intimacy. Spiritual intimacy is when we let others see our inner selves. It is linked with emotional intimacy where we reveal our feelings, needs, or hurts without fear of being unsafe. Intellectual intimacy allows us to share ideas through honest conversation and phyical intimacy lets us explore through touch and closeness. It is not done only through sex and in some cases may not involve sex. All types of intimacy ought to be something we choose. Into-me-see.

July 14, 2026 - Fear

My thought for today is Fear. I remember I was afraid of dying or more specifically I was worried about my wife dying and me being left alone in the world, or vice versa. Then I remembered that I can ask God to remove my fears, whatever they may be, and then try to live my life as if I did not have those fears. I realized that things will happen as they are meant to happen and by living in fear of what tomorrow might bring will only take me away from the joys of what is actually happening today. I'm still not crazy about the idea that someday I will die, but I try not to let it control my living.

July 13, 2026 - Help Others

My thought for today is Help Others. Back when I was drinking/using, the only person I wanted to help was myself. I had no interest in helping you unless there was something in it for me. And then I met the folk in AA. They seemed genuinely interested in helping me without regard for anything I could or would do for them. They told me to keep coming back. They suggested that I figure out who God was and try to live as he would have me live. I began slowly as the big book told me to lose interest in selfish things and to gain interest in my fellows. So, that is my purpose today. To help others, or to at least have a kind and tolerant view of each of those whom I would try to help. My God shows me how to do that. Every now and then, I meet someone like me and I just smile and tell them to keep coming back....

July 12, 2026 - Procrastination

My thought for today is Procrastination. The act of delaying or avoiding a task, decision, or responsibility — especially when one knows the delay is unnecessary, unhelpful, or harmful. Procrastination has been called a five syllable word meaning sloth. But, sloth stops me from doing the work. Procrastination stalls me. Sloth says I don't want to do that. Procrastination says I'll do it later. But, really, we ought to do whatever it is and do it now, because later is not promised.

July 11, 2026 - Responsibility

My thought for today is Responsibility. The willingness to carry out a task that someone has entrusted to me. Responsibility, for me, is showing up with integrity, even when the outcome is not mine to decide or control. I try to carry out my responsibility like a custodian - steady, sober, and without ego. In service, as in my personal life, I try to be responsible for my actions, my choices, my spiritual condition and for my side of the street. I am not responsible for other people's feelings (I can be kind but I can't manage their emotions), their choices (I can guide but I cannot decide for them), their reactions (their approval or their disappointment is theirs not mine), their sobriety (I can share my experience strength and hope with them but I cannot get or keep them sober), their outcomes (I can do the footwork but the outcome is up to God), or for their spiritual path (I can walk with them but not for them).

July 10, 2026 - Acceptance

My thought for today is Acceptance. I just got this word last week, but they say we get the lessons until we learn them. Acceptance is a clear acknowledgement of reality. The big book reminds me that when I find some person, place, thing, or situation unacceptable to me, that I can find no serenity until I accept that it is exactly as it is supposed to be at that moment. Once I get to that point, accepting reality, I open the door to willingness and to change. I need to concentrate on me and my attitudes toward things. No original thoughts there.

July 9, 2026 - Hope

My thought for today is Hope. I remember  when I decided to stop drinking in 1997, I had the clothes I was wearing and I had a copy of a bible. For most of my life, I had considered myself an atheist, yet I had kept that bible. Throwing it away didn't seem like the right thing to do. I was homeless back then, but even when I slept in a snowbank with a rock for a pillow and a newspaper for a blanket, God wasn't that far from me. I also had hope that if I tried one more time, with God, to stop drinking and if I went to those damn meetings and followed the direction of my sponsor, then I might  just be okay. I was under the bridge almost two months until I made my way into a transition house and stayed there a couple of months. I still went to meetings and I still tried to follow the direction and guidance of my sponsor and of God. Gradually, I became sober and stayed sober. that was almost 29 years ago and these days I share that story with new people who are struggling as was I to come to terms with their situation. That is the hope I bring to them, that if I did it, they can do it.

July 8, 2026 - Action

My thought for today is Action. The Big Book reminds me that the answer to all my problems is more spiritual development and that faith without works is dead. It goes on to say, in the tenth step, that the spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it. Action is the engine of development. Everything else is just conversation. Action is not just thinking; it is doing. Thinking is when we tell ourselves, Yeah I'm going to do that and doing is when we actually take action and apply the principles we have learned to our lives. My sponsor, may he rest in peace, always told me this is where we take the action necessary to apply the solution to the problem. He was referring to the action steps - 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. If you know what I'm talking about, then you know what to do. If you don't know, then you keep telling yourself, Yeah that's what I'm going to do. Know what I mean, jellybean.

July 7, 2026 - Easy Does It....But Do It

My thought for today is Easy Does It....But Do It. The slogan reminds me that I don't have to do everything today, but that I should do as much as I am able to. Nothing changes if I don't take action. I should show up at meetings even when going makes me feel awkward. I should pick up and use the phone rather than isolate. Trusting the process is a good idea, participating in the process is an even better idea. I chair my home group tonight which  means setting up the tables and chairs. I could do that all myself and risk having a heart attack or stroke, or I could ask the newer members to lend a hand. Today, I will practice easy does it....but do it.

July 6, 2026 - God could and would

My thought for today is God could and would. That is taken from the third pertinent idea in How It Works, that God could and would relieve us of our alcoholism, if He were sought. It does not say we have to find God, we just have to seek Him. It reminds me of a passage in the Bible. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.....it doesn't say we have to find God, we just have to look for Him. And, the Big Book even suggests to us where to look. "Deep down in every man, woman, and child is the fundamental idea of God....."

July 5, 2026 - Step Seven

My thought for today is Step 7. "Humbly asked Him to remove my shortcomings." Our literature tells us that we humbly ask God to remove those shortcomings that he could or would based on the conditions of the day we ask. Some days I am honest but I am also selfish. Other days I am unselfish but maybe a little dishonest. Each day is different and that's the way I like it. I think it would be boring if I was suddenly made pure and whole. The 7th step prayer is as most prayers are, a request. "My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and the bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen." Most good ideas are simple.

July 4, 2026 - Acceptance

My thought for today is Acceptance. The clear seeing of reality as it is and the willingness to stop fighting what is true. To quote one of our co-founders, until I accepted my devastating weakness (my powerlessness over alcohol and over people places and things) and all its consequences (all the unmanageability in my life), I could not make any progress in recovery. There are many things over which I have no control and until I accept that I cannot change that person, place, or thing, I will be unable to move forward at all. Denial often blocks our path to freedom; acceptance opens the way to willingness and change.

July 3rd, 2026. Serenity prayer.

My thought today is the serenity prayer. The short form is: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Like most prayers, it contains a request. I ask God to help me accept things that are out of my control, for courage to change things that are in my control, and to be able to tell the difference between the two. When reciting the first line, Nancy and I often point at each other to indicate that we cannot change each other and when we say the second line we point at ourselves because we can change ourselves. It is a good reminder.

July 2nd, 2026. Denial.

My thought for today is denial. Like many of my other defects, it doesn't shout. It whispers. I Don't Even Notice I Am Lying. Denial was a shield for my ego because admitting the truth meant the collapse of everything I thought I knew. But, I got into recovery and I worked the twelve steps and gradually I had the spiritual awakening that was promised to me. Again, there was no blinding flash of light, no spectacular change in my thinking. It was subtle. My soul stopped negotiating with my ego and I became more honest. I realized I had been denying God. As my spirit awakened, I began to see through my denial and to wonder what was on the other side of that archway to spiritual freedom. Denial lost its grip on me.

July 1st, 2026, Pride.

My thought for today is pride. Today is Canada Day, and I must say that I am proud to be a Canadian. That type of pride is a good thing. But, pride is not always a good quality. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins and it has been said that people relapse or stagnate when they lose connection — with others, with meaning, with a Higher Power. Pride is the mechanism of that disconnection. Daily spiritual practices like prayer, meditation, and reflection, keep me connected and humble. Pride can interrupt these practices by convincing me that I am too stressed or too busy or worse yet that I am already spiritually fine and don't need to further my spiritual growth. Pride is when I stop being open, to people, to God, to guidance.